The narrator reflects on her childhood, growing up in a humble household with a carpenter father and a laundress mother. Her father was a remarkably quiet, gentle, and hardworking man whom locals called old Sans Souci because nothing could ever disturb his peaceful demeanor. In contrast, her mother was loud, talkative, and quick to discipline her daughters with heavy hands, though she possessed a deeply compassionate heart. Following the sudden death of her mother from drinking cold water when overheated, her father retreated into absolute silence, sitting by the fireplace with his head in his hands while the older sisters eventually married and moved away.
Despite their sparse living conditions and the father few spoken words, the narrator maintained a cheerful disposition, earning the affectionate local nickname Rose dAmour for her joyful spirit and kind nature. During the spring when she was around ten years old, she joined a group of children for an evening walk in the nearby chestnut woods under the supervision of a respected neighbor, mother Bernard. While playing and running about, she became separated from the others just as a large, exhausted wolf entered the wood to escape a hunting party.
When the fierce beast charged directly toward her, she screamed in terror and attempted to flee. A young boy three years her senior, known as Bernard le Eveveille, bravely intervened to save her life. Lacking any conventional weapons, he removed his jacket, threw it over the charging wolf head to blind and confuse it, and engaged the animal in a desperate struggle while the narrator stood paralyzed and screaming in fright.
Fortunately, the hunting party and their hounds arrived shortly afterward, dispatching the wolf with a hunting knife and praising Bernard for his extraordinary courage. This dramatic rescue profoundly altered the course of the narrator life, as Bernard was warmly welcomed into her home by her grateful father. He soon became their closest companion, acquired the new nickname Vire Loup in honor of his heroic deed, and remained constantly by the narrator side from that day forward.